And so, here I am, Sunday morning, always a bridesmaid, listening as the winners field questions from the podium. Should I ask them how it feels to trample my dreams as if they were little more than a sad and meager campfire still weakly smoldering in the cool morning mist?

KIDDING!

Maybe I’ll ask them for recommendations on where to get good Marionberry Pie in Portland.

Maybe I won’t ask them anything at all. Maybe I’ll just write them each individually and tell them how impressed I am by what they’ve done.

Yes.

That’s what I’m going to do.

Because that would be truthful.

And the TRUTH … shall set us free.

—

The great Duke Ellington once said, “Put it this way: Jazz is a good barometer of freedom… In its beginnings, the United States of America spawned certain ideals of freedom and independence through which, eventually, jazz was evolved, and the music is so free that many people say it is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country.”

And what I’m saying is, composition is not just about freedom, it is the enactment of freedom.

Randall Grahm, in his keynote speech, said something to the effect of: when we write about wine, we are actually writing about ourselves.

Which I do not necessarily believe.

But what I will say, is that when we write about wine, we are writing. And when we are writing, we are free.

And when we are free, we are freedom.

So let us ring!

—

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail The sky cracked it’s poems in naked wonder That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze Leaving only bells of lightning and it’s thunder Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind An’ the poet and the painter far behind his rightful time An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

— Bob Dylan, “The Chimes of Freedom”

—

Congratulations to the winners, your poems, in naked wonder, are flashing.

10 replies

Love your sense of humor — keep up the good work for Ridge, my favorite winery! Better luck next year in the blog voting! See you at the Annual Montebello Final Assemblage Tasting in May, or maybe I’ll get to the March Component Tasting this year!

Chris: I left a comment earlier and it didn’t post. So I’m sending again. When the nominations went up, I voted for your blog. So sorry to see you’re a bridesmaid…you so deserved to win. Your writings are clever, interesting and very enjoyable. So poo on those judges! Keep writing what you love to write, and us readers will continue loving your blog!